Slashdot Mirror
GP2X Surpasses Expectations
Harry Trotter writes "Gameparks GP2X Linux Based Console had a lot to live up to with Some amusing boasts from Gamepark, but it has lived up to its pre-billing rather well with great ports of commercial games and emulators such as Mame, Vice (Commodore 64), NeoGeo CD, Duke Nukem 3D, ScummVM and another 150 more releases so far, all of which can be followed at GP2X News & GP32 Xtreme. The Open Source Development of this console has ensured a following that will keep the console alive for years to come."
I'm sure this is a slashvertisement, but this is a very cool device. I hope that they can profit where other gaming manufacturers don't: from the hardware itself. Not placing a financial income take in future sales of games is sort of odd, but it makes sense that someone has to try it. Doing so in an OSS sort of way is REALLY bizarre from a competitiveness perspective.
:) It keeps trying to install the Korean fonts, so I guess they might have an excuse. Bad Engrish is acceptable in some situations. (Do not click this link if you need to be silent in a cubicle, FWIW.)
I'll buy one or a dozen of them just as a show of faith. Many of my friends with kids could use an introduction into the great games of my time -- if only someone would make Mattel's Utopia, then I'd be happy.
A few questions that I didn't see on the site:
1. Is it Mac compatible? I assume it is just a basic Mass Storage device on the USB chain.
2. Does anyone have a link to the actual technical specs? I can't find anything on that site about the tech specs, other than the ARM processors.
3. How bright is the screen and how do they get 10 hours out of 2 AA batteries?
4. What is the estimated profit margin per unit? Is the price enough to keep them solvent AND address tech support concerns?
5. Is 320x240 enough? I'm an Action Quake 2 addict, but not sure I can play on 320x240.
6. Can they hire a grammar and spell checker?
7. Does anyone want to go in with me to pick up about 100 of these so we can save shipping and make a few bucks on our friends?
I'm pretty happy with the HP iPAQ I received for Christmas, but I'd love to screw around with this thing. Great, another freaking device I'll need a pocket for. I still can't see how they'll be able to fix bad units and support their customers merely on profit from the console sale, but if its built properly and an open source support community props up around it, anything's possible.
A friend bought one of these, and borrowed it for a couple of days. You get something like three hours when you watch movies (DIVX), and the thing looks like it skips some frames. Don't really know, but it's looks like that. Also, the emulators are very unfinished. SNES lacks sounds, many lack good interfaces. Some readme's are in Korean, and you need to install some kind SDL libs for some emulators. Didn't say that in the docs. Or is my Korean that bad? ;) Still waiting for hardware accelerated SDL to surface.
I'd love to buy one, but currently the machine is lacking software. Very badly. Give it software and I'll buy one asap!
But does it play Duke Nukem Forever?
Now THAT would make it an amazing console.
http://www.TheGamerNation.com/Forums
Here is what get from their home page.
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WTF???
evil is as evil does
as gp32 (and future gp2x) owner, i'll just state some things (hoping they won't be discussed/used as slander)
:)
:) :)
-the current units are poor (both soft and hardware): hardware is pretty much okay, i think they had to fix 1 thing after their first shipment (poorly soldered audio jack), software is still in development, consider the current units more like devkits and units for the true fanatics, the software will improove
-a lot of the current problems are due to this...:
*low battery life: clockspeed is higher than default atm, so it requires very good batteries (2300mah+, rechargable ofcourse, 4hour life to be expected), how this will improove, nobody knows
*bricking units: firmware is early, and flashing can go wrong, will improove, and if you're careful, you won't suffer from it
*video playback is not what it's said to be (little formats supported): the will iproove with newer firmwares, if all promises will be made, noone knows, lets hope for the best
*poor joystick: dunno, have heard some complaints about it, haven't had one in my hands yet, the same was said about the gp32, but i adore it's joystick, the gp2x joystick however is completely different
*memory cards support: will improove with firmwares
similar with most other problems you can think of
about software support i'm sure you can expect a lot from the gp32/2x community, just don't expect to buy it now and get a fully functional super emu machine in your hands, most emus are alpha stage, unstable and slow, pretty normal for a handheld that's not even really released yet, more like devkits atm... and only available for nearly 2 months or so...
take a look at the gp32 progs, (www.gp32x.de is the gp32 filearchive), and in a year or two you'll may expect similar things for the gp2x, with better emus for snes and better systems (we hope thigns like gba, amiga, psx, although those are the limits of the handheld)
You cant be serious. These games have all been done, and probably done better before, and are history for most people. There is _nothing_ to live up to when you produce a cheap copy of old technology because expectations have already moved way beyond your implemention.
Do not try to read the dupe, thats impossible. Instead, only try to realize the truth
What truth?
There is no dupe
AA batteries have the distinction of being available at just about any airport, train station, and drug-store anywhere. In general you don't need to "carry around" the batteries if you don't want.
In contrast, dedicated Lithium cells requiring a special charger and a wall outlet is definitely a drawback when your game runs out of juice.
P.S. I still much prefer the original gameboy advance design because of the easily replaced standard 'AA' size batteries. I'd have bought the GBA-SP, but the lack of standard batteries and lack of standard headphone port precludes me from getting one.
{ - Generic Guy - }
Just a fair warning for anyone thinking about buying one. I've got one, and it's a great device, but it sucks up batteries like nothing else. The day I got mine, I put in the set of batteries that came with it, and they lasted me less than 2 hours. I threw some brand new duracell batteries in, those lasted about an hour and a half as well. I ended up buying some 2500mah recharagable batteries the day after I got the device, because it really does need them. With those I get battery life around 4 hours, which includes the fact that I'm turning it on and off every 5 minutes or so to test a game I've been trying to port. The popular import store Lik-Sang isn't selling them at this point because of minor issues like that. (That, and it's fairly easy to brick them upgrading the firmware) So if you're thinking of getting one, be prepared with good batteries or an AC adapter. :-)
Just because a few people still develop and play with an outdated, old, and rather crappy system doesn't mean that the system is doing well, successful, popular, or even mentioned at all in the future. Sure, the system will be alive by a few teenagers with far too much time on their hands and a little monkey coding in their blood, but does that mean it's worth it or even matters?
Do you own a XBox360?
I agree with you 100%. You'd also be surprised as to how many experts READ slashdot to gain some insight into what the market wants or needs. Two of my customers design System-on-a-chip devices, and I know they read up on Slashdot often to see what bugs the geeks the most.
Just because it isn't expert advice, doesn't mean that it isn't good advice that I can u se in my future. When you're in the IT business it is VERY important to also have your ear open to what others are saying. That being said, I think I am one of the few people who will admit that slashdot helps me make a profit with my productive time.
I don't think it's supposed to be competing with the PSP or DS, to be honest. I'm a big fan of the GP32 (what came before), and I'm further an owner of one of these (and it is a great deal cooler as devices go, despite the loopholes), but there's no way I'd claim this thing can compete with either. The closest it'll come graphically is a decent PSX emulator (which is already chugging along somewhat, although needs some more fiddling, if the last vid I saw of it was anything to go by), or, conceivably, a port of the wonderful Yeti3D engine - if and only if people actually start to use it!
What it *will* do is embrace homebrew in a way that the PSP or DS are unlikely ever to do, outside of an incredibly restricted box. For those that want graphical splendour, therefore, it's of little importance - buy a PSP and be wowed by the graphics... that's the main thing about the thing. On the other hand, for those that want the buzz of a truly thriving community that's releasing new amazing developments every few days, both in emulators, but also in some very addictive homebrew games (Tilematch springs to mind), then this is pretty much the only thing to go for.
Unless, of course, you want to go for a Zaurus or what have you instead, which, if we're honest, has somewhat more punch (albeit a larger price tag too), but at the expense of... well, having buttons in the right places to play stuff, if all the reports I've heard are in fact true!
The Open Source Development of this console has ensured a following that will keep the console alive for years to come."
Alive in the same way that the Dreamcast or Amiga remains alive?
resigned
"A pair of alkaline AA cells gives 3.0 volts. A pair of NiCd or NiMH AA cells gives 2.4 volts."
And rechargable alkalines also give 3.0 volts, but it doesn't look like Rayovac makes them any more because most digital devices are more interested in greater current throughput rather than a higher voltage. We're not talking about a flashlight.
Besides, most electronics have their own voltage regulator on board. A Sega Game Gear took 6 AAs, do you really think the circuits ran at 9 V? If the original Game Boy required 6 V, how could all other Game Boys from Pocket onward could run the cartridges with only 3 V? Odds are, only one battery (whether it's 1.5 V or 1.2 V) would be sufficient for operating voltages and the second battery is there only to put in more coulombs (i. e. a higher current for a longer amount of time).
"I'd have bought the GBA-SP, but the lack of standard batteries and lack of standard headphone port precludes me from getting one."
The Nintendo DS and the Game Boy Micro both play GBA games and have a standard headphone port (though you can still use the SP headphone dongle on the DS if you really want).
However, you'll need a new link cable for the Micro (much as you did when the Game Boy Pocket came out) and the DS doesn't support GBA linking at all.
I find it interesting that the GP2X has a native port of VICE already, whereas OS X is still shackled by a version that runs extremely poorly through X11 and ESD.
Shame, used to be my favourite emulator too. Might take a look at porting it properly in my Copious Free Time - hopefully the speed with which it was ported to the GP2X indicates that it's easier than the VICE team claim to port.
Not to mention the cost. It takes some big money to get a LiPoly pac and charger certified. This is a small market item .
See my blog http://ilovecookes.blogspot.com/ for light hearted technical information.
I was given a GP2X for Christmas so I've not had too much time to use it. There are certain flaws which are evident though.
1. The LCD screen has a problem with refresh rates as it appears to be interlaced. This apparently can be tweaked by running some third party utilities which adjust the clock speed of the CPU and the LCD timing but it isn't perfect. You either get a washed out screen or a flickery interlaced screen. Alledgely a future firmware upgrade will fix it...
2. The unit is very plasticy and poorly finished. The edges around the shoulder buttons are quite sharp.
3. It is very easy to brick the unit as the firmware upgrade system is very unreliable. The safest way appears to be using a third party utility.
4. How it appears as a USB device is odd. It tells the computer that is a HD instead of a removable disk. This means that your PC expects the SD card to be formatted with a partition table.
5. The unit is quite fat. They never show you a side profile view or the back for a reason and that is because there is a lump where you put the 2xAAs.
I've tried the Megadrive/Genesis and SNES emulators so far and they both work quite well apart from the lack of sound in the SNES emulator. Playing DiVX files also works but I've had some problems where it crashes and required you to turn the unit on and off. Both of these problems should be fixable with new firmware.
Basically, if you want a games console then buy a DS or a PSP. If you want to run your own stuff or that the idea of a games console running Linux appeals then get a GP2X.
I own one and i can give my opinion (and some facts) about it.
:)
Some things good and some things bad about it:
Bad:
- Heavy interlaced screen (can be fixed by software: i added it to the profile script and now its OK)
- Long startup time, about 20 secs (think it have lo load a linux kernel)
- Troubles reading some SD cards (erratic, will be improved in next firmwares)
- Analog like feeling joystick (i prefer the less hard to move joystick of the GP32, but this seems more durable)
- Low battery life (hope with dynamic clock increase/decrease will improve this). Note: You can, for example, play perfectly some videos and games at half clockspeed.
Good:
- Good comunity (every day there are one or more releases of home made software)
- Linux based (easy software porting, easily scriptable/configurable)
- Great desing and low weight than i expected (even with batteries)
- Ability to easily develop for it
Emulation status:
- Play perfectly Megadrive/Genesis games, NeoGeoPocket, NES, Sega Mastersystem, GB and GB Color.
- Play 904 MAME Games (0.34 version), some NeoGeoCD games, SNES
- See some Gameboy advance and PSX games loading, but unplayable
Keep in mind that most of this emulators are near direct portings and none of them (as far as i know) use the second processor. Due the machine power we can expect to play perfectly GBA games in mid term. It is just a mather of time
Regards,
Ego
outdated? it's using the latest non-specialty hardware for it's price range. old? it just came out. rather crappy? how so? if you're talking about the problems it has, all it takes is a simple firmware update to fix it up. i've dropped mine a couple of times and it runs great, so it can't be the build quality. it runs correctly and as i expect it to, so it can't be the software. where's the crap factor? do you even own one? better think before making such rash remarks =] the point of the gp2x was to never be successful or popular on a global scale. but for something that has had no corporate advertisement or promotion it's doing pretty good. does it matter? well that depends if 1000's of retro games, new homebrew games, wide-range movie playback, mp3/ogg playback, picture viewing, and textbook reading matter to you.
I invite those who are interested to check out the GP2X wiki. It has a lot of good resources. Also, please visit us on EFNet at #gp2x and #gp2xdev. The more the merrier!
Umm, call me crazy but doesn't the fact that the vast majority of the games on the platform seem to be provided through emulation throw the entire legal state of this console into question? Does this thing come with lots of ROMS pre-loaded? Apparently not (from reading their website). Nor do they seem to offer any way to download ROMS through their website? So I'm assuming the only way to get the ROMS is through the usual sources (piracy).
/. hacker crowd capable of doing this, this is hardly practical for kids (as suggested by some posters) or the general public.
How practical is this for consumers? "Sure, it can play zillions of games but you have to download them from warez sites." So while this might hold some interest for the
"but are you really interested in 90% of the crap they're turning out these days?"
:-/
No, definitely not, I'm interested in the other non-crappy 10%.
Which also do not run on Linux.